How Times Have Changed

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Speaking of the times changing, look at the title of the article. What was the defenition of an idiot? < 20 IQ? Something like that, either way it was a thechnical term. But, the way I see it, it was picked up and used in common parlance until it became pejorative. Now imagine telling a set of parents whose son or daug. has very low IQ, your son is an idiot mr. and mrs. smith.

Let me know if you guys agree wit this sentement or not. I hate the way clinical psychiatric/psychologicat terms are picked up by the public and used in common parlance. I'm talking about terms that have true clinical significance. For example, mania. "I was so manic today." It becomes a problem when you attemt to measure clinical these constructs. People then over endorse and twist the meaning of the words. I find it frustrating.
 
Yes, back in the day, IQ classified you as:

70-80 Borderline Deficiency
50-69 *****
20-49 Imbecile
<20 Idiot

This is roughly equivalent to mildly, moderately, severely, and profoundly ******ed...but not exactly.

Of course, the DSM requires an assessment of adaptive functioning in this assessment.
 
The call them "unfortunate creatures."

"Sir—Mr. George E. Day, acquaints me, Nov. 10, 1846, in a letter from Marlborough, (Mass.) that the efforts I have made for the instruction and cultivation of idiots, have awakened considerable interest in your country, and particularly, that it has been by your endeavoring, the State of New York took notice of those unfortunate creatures at the last session.
 
Anasazi23 said:
The call them "unfortunate creatures."

I think they are pushing for inclusion of UCs as a diagnostic category in DSM-V.
 
Psyclops said:
I think they are pushing for inclusion of UCs as a diagnostic category in DSM-V.

I'm gonna use that in rounds tomorrow.

Mr. Jones is a 46 year old, undomiciled, unemployed, single, male unfortunate creature with a history of ESRD, HTN, and aortic stenosis who was BIBS after he awoke from an apparent overdose of 15 10mg Ambien, 40 tabs of unknown dose of VPA, and 35 tabs of 40mg Paxil...

He was diagnosed with UC during his first psychiatric hospitalization at Bellevue in 1982.

Of course, they won't let us use this abbreviation, as it's already reserved for Ulcerative Colitis...another psychiatrically related condition.
 
Anasazi23 said:
Yes, back in the day, IQ classified you as:

70-80 Borderline Deficiency
50-69 *****
20-49 Imbecile
<20 Idiot

This is roughly equivalent to mildly, moderately, severely, and profoundly ******ed...but not exactly.

Of course, the DSM requires an assessment of adaptive functioning in this assessment.

I'll have to keep these IQ classifications in mind for the next time I insult someone's intelligence! I can already hear the reply: "I'm not an imbecile, I have an IQ of 55, that makes me a *****!" :laugh:
 
Speaking of low IQ and 'the good ole days', I recently read a good book about said times. The State Boys Rebellion -- Excellent read though very disturbing and makes me happy to be apart of changing times.
 
PublicHealth said:
I'll have to keep these IQ classifications in mind for the next time I insult someone's intelligence! I can already hear the reply: "I'm not an imbecile, I have an IQ of 55, that makes me a *****!" :laugh:


This was a running joke between my father and me. He would call me an idiot after I did something stupid/illegal/immoral, and I'd say, "give me some credit...I'm at least an imbecile!"
 
Anasazi23 said:
This was a running joke between my father and me. He would call me an idiot after I did something stupid/illegal/immoral, and I'd say, "give me some credit...I'm at least an imbecile!"

Interesting how these terms and some Freudian terms (e.g., unconscious, libido, anal-retentive, denial, repression) remain in our everyday vernacular.
 
Interesting isn’t it. I have always thought the term physician extender sounded a little phallic.
 
PsychEval said:
Interesting isn’t it. I have always thought the term physician extender sounded a little phallic.


Honey, its always phallic to you isn't it? :laugh: :meanie:
 
PublicHealth said:
Interesting how these terms and some Freudian terms (e.g., unconscious, libido, anal-retentive, denial, repression) remain in our everyday vernacular.

The histrionic nature of our culture adopts all of the clinical terms in an attempt to out do each other. "I was so hyper today!?!", "Oh my god, really, I was just so manic!?!?" The !? denots the valley girl accent.
 
Psyclops said:
The histrionic nature of our culture adopts all of the clinical terms in an attempt to out do each other. "I was so hyper today!?!", "Oh my god, really, I was just so manic!?!?" The !? denots the valley girl accent.

Throw in a couple "Like, oh my GOD!"s and I think you've got it. 👍

My pet peeve: "ignorant" (alt. pronunciation: "ig-nint") used as a perjorative term.
 
TheWowEffect said:
What is peRjorative?

Its a term like "Nerd Burgler" that you would use for losers who go around pointing out typos.

Do you understand the difference between typo and spelling mistake? Can you spot the differnece?
 
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